This Thursday, March 5th, the Bus Project will be driving down to Salem to watch the Oregon Senate vote on our darling House Bill 2177, colloquially known as #newmotorvoter. We’ve been working on this bill for years, and it’s one short vote away from becoming law and eliminating a significant barrier for many Oregonians to participate in our local democracy.

As Vice President Joe Biden would say, this is, um, a big deal.

We know it’s short notice, but we’re extending the invitation for you to come down with the Bus Project this Thursday, March 5th and witness history. We’ll be taking our beloved BUS down to Salem and leaving from our headquarters (333 SE 2nd, Portland OR, 97214) at 8am, and you are invited for a free ride, some coffee, doughnuts, and a chance to watch a vote on the most innovative current piece of voting rights legislation in the country. The vote begins at 10:30am, and we’re hoping to be back in Portland by 2:00pm in the afternoon at the absolute latest.

If you can’t make the trip with us, can you please share this blog post on social media to encourage your friends to come along? We need more people to sign our petition so we can ensure our State Senators know how excited we are to be the first state in the country to implement such measures to make our elections more efficient, cost-effective, and accessible to a larger section of Oregonians.

We want to let everybody know that Oregon is a state that supports removing every unnecessary barrier to participating in our local democracy, and that it’s excellent news that we have an opportunity to ensure that every eligible Oregonian citizen will have a ballot in their hand for the next election.

COME TO SALEM WITH US TO WATCH THE FINAL VOTE!

8:00am, Thursday, March 5th, meet us at Bus HQ (333 SE 2nd, Portland OR, 97214). If you’re already in Salem, join us in the Capitol Building for the vote at 10:30am.

The Bus Project went down to Salem to watch #newmotorvoter clear the House. Come join us as we go down and watch the Senate vote next week! Photo Credit Reuben Schafir.

***UPDATE, FEB 27*** We’re still patiently waiting to find the exact date of the vote, but at this point we can confirm that it will not be this next Monday. We’ll let you know as soon as we know; feel free to email Aaron at aaron@busproject.org to learn how to get involved!

What started as a great idea thrown around by voting rights activists, elected officials and the Bus Project over five years ago is now days away from one final vote to pass into law. Oregon’s House Bill 2177, affectionately known as #newmotorvoter, will help ensure that every eligible Oregonian will have a ballot in hand for the next upcoming election, and the bill will be voted on by the Oregon Senate NEXT WEEK, as early as Monday, March 2nd.

Obviously, we’re tickled silly that this bill is so close to passing, so we’re headed down to Salem to watch the vote in person.

Wanna join?

Contact Aaron at aaron@busproject.orgor call the Bus office at 503 233 3018 if you’re interested in coming down, and we’ll contact you as soon as we know the date of the vote. Bring your friends! We’re happy to write pink slips for any students who need paperwork to get out of school for the day to witness history.

Can’t get out of school/work next week? Well, it’s not too late to sign our petition to make sure that your State Senator knows that this bill means a lot to you. We’d love it if you could use the #newmotorvoter hashtag on twitter, facebook, and anywhere else you use social media, and we’d *love* it if you helped spread the good word about #newmotorvoter on our own social media:

Last Monday, in front of a warm, packed crowd at The Waypost, the Bus Project and Oregon Climate kicked off our joint campaign to work for progressive climate policy here in the state of Oregon. After a gracious introduction by Representative Lew Frederick, Oregon Climate’s Executive Director Camila Thorndike spoke and debuted the new video explaining the fee-and-dividend model of placing appropriate pricing on carbon pollution. A full recap of the event is available in a story published by Oregon Business. The video is available here: please share it widely with your friends!

Oregon enjoys a long history as an innovative, trailblazin’ champion for pragmatic environmental politics; from our Urban Growth Boundary to our illustrious history with recycling, we’ve always stepped up to the challenge to lead the country in finding ways to protect our surroundings. Now, it’s our generation’s turn to stand up and write the next chapter of Oregon’s groundbreaking story as a leader in protecting our planet by putting a price on carbon.

Well, we’re absolutely thrilled to announce that #newmotorvoter just passed through Oregon’s House of Representatives. House Bill 2177 is now headed to the Oregon Senate; there could be a vote as early as next week. Stay tuned; we’ll be headed down to Salem again to watch the final vote and be certain that every eligible Oregonian will have a ballot in hand for the next election.

We’ll be taking our trusty Bus down to Salem to show support for New Motor Voter and make sure our legislators remember the importance of this bill; by spending a sunny Friday afternoon with us, you’ll be ensuring that legislators know that removing barriers to access and participation in our democracy is a crucial issue that deeply matters to young Oregonians.

WHO: You. (and your friends at the Bus Project!)

WHAT: Your chance to be a witness to history and to make sure legislators know that making democracy as accessible, engaging, and wonderful as possible is an issue worth

WHEN: 8:00am, this FRIDAY, February 20th. (that’s in three days!) We should be back in Portland around 1:30.

WHY: Because democracy is worth fighting for (and volunteering to make democracy better is a lot of fun. Also, we’ll have coffee, bananas and doughnuts.)

HOW: Send Aaron, our outreach coordinator, an email at aaron@busproject.org to RSVP, or call the Bus office’s at 503.233.3018. We’re happy to write you a pink slip if you need an excuse to leave school/work for the day; we should be back. You won’t wanna miss this!

As superfans of democracy and ardent supporters of any effort to get a ballot in the hand of every eligible Oregonian, we’ve been busy the last few years.

We’ve been working to expand democracy across this fine state for many a year (see: seventeen year old pre registration in 2007, Online Registration in 2009, and our work to adopt the National Voter Registration Act Compliance Council in 2011), and we’ve been working on bringing this Voter Modernization effort to Oregon for over three years.

This past Monday, the Bus Project and our volunteers provided testimony about the ways that this bill will help remove further barriers to voting.

The House Committee on Rules heard from Uma, a rockstar high school volunteer who ran a registration drive at Westview High School; they heard from Kappy, affiliated with the League of Women Voters who declared “I’ve been voting for seventy years, and I recommend it;” and Iris, a single mother who has found herself often moving homes and wanted to be sure she’d always have a ballot to cast for an upcoming election.

Thanks for coming out to our State of the Union Party!

We had a great time playing Bingo, meeting friends old and new, and providing a brief update about the exciting events and upcoming legislation that the Bus Project will tackle in 2015. The watch party was profiled both on OPB News and on GoLocalPDX; check it out!

Introducing Nathan Howard, our new Interim Executive Director!

As we announced at the State of the Union Party, this marks the first week of Nathan Howard’s tenure as Interim Executive Director of the Bus Project. Prior to hopping in the driver’s seat of the Bus, Nathan worked in the Oregon State Senate. Most recently, he worked as a Finance Director during the 2014 election cycle; before that as the Chief of Staff to Senator Mark Hass, with a focus on ​education, ​environmental, and ​finance & ​revenue ​public ​policy.

Nathan is a native Oregonian, born and raised in Portland just off 82nd Ave., and a University of Oregon graduate, where he received his BA in City Planning, Public Policy and Management. Nathan sees Oregon as a trailblazer in the movement to increase civic engagement, especially among young people, and move towards shared and sustained prosperity.

When he isn’t working on moving the great state of Oregon forward, Nathan enjoys working on bicycles, playing Settlers of Catan, and hiking around the Northwest. Feel free to drop Nathan a line at nathan@busproject.org.

Motor Voter legislation, up and running!

The Bus Project is excited to announce that our efforts to strengthen Oregon’s democracy, already one of the most free, fair, and accessible​ in the country, ​are ​currently ​underway. House Bill 2177, introduced by the Secretary of State Kate Brown, would help register hundreds of thousands of voters across the state by using the Department of Motor Vehicles’ records to make sure that every eligible Oregonian has a ballot in hand before the upcoming election.

PolitiCorps 2015, ARE YOU PREPARED?

Know any college-aged folks who would be a great fit for our summer bootcamp program that helps build the next generation of leaders in the state of Oregon? Click HERE to nominate a great candidate, and click HERE to apply yourself.

NEXT EVENT: Oregon Climate Video Launch Party, 2/23!

Climate–a statewide grassroots campaign for fair & effective climate policy–and the Bus Project on Monday, February 23 for the official LAUNCH of our long-awaited campaign video!

Invite your friends and come out to meet incredible people, watch an inspiring film, hear special guest speakers, and learn how we’re going to make history this year.

Winter is going extinct. Pipelines menace our forests and farms. Oceans are emptying. We all need protection from fossil fuel chaos and we all know a new energy economy is possible. The time for bold action is now. Let’s enact a solution that is effective, equitable, and cuts through partisan gridlock. Let’s put a price on carbon.

The states are the laboratory for democracy, and no state has more power to model real climate action than Oregon. Let’s put science and justice above politics, and lead the way!

Hey folks! The Bus Project is gearing up for a busy 2015, with plans to modernize our state’s voter registration system, to fight to make Oregon the first state in the country with a progressive carbon tax, and to accomplish this work by empowering the next generation of Oregonians to become political leaders and organizers in our fair state. To do that, though, we’re gonna need help! The Bus Project is hiring a LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENTCOORDINATOR who will be managing our esteemed Politicorps program, developing legislative internships and more!

The full details of the job description are HERE; please do us a solid and forward this position to anyone you know who is excited about working with youth, interested in community organizing, passionate about racial and social justice, or (preferably) all of the above.

Applications received before 12/31 at midnight receive priority. Hope to hear from you!

The Bus Project staff, board and volunteers spent many a long night reviewing the slate of ballot measures to explain them simply and clearly, and to make recommendations based on how these measures impact young people across the state. We have FIFTY THOUSAND VOTER GUIDES that we plan to distribute across the state. Head on over to www.theballot.org/ORPortland to grab some for your neighbors! If you live in Corvallis or Southern Oregon, check out our extra-special guides at www.theballot.org/ORValley or www.theballot.org/ORSouth, respectively.